As the games industry accelerates toward an all-digital future, Marvel's Wolverine sold 35% of its 2.16 million September units on physical disc — rising to over half in Europe and two-thirds in France — quietly reminding us that the way people choose to own things is rarely uniform, and rarely finished. Sony's plan to end PS5 disc production by 2028 has drawn sharp criticism from preservation advocates and former PlayStation leadership alike, raising questions that go beyond convenience: when physical media disappears and digital storefronts close, who becomes the keeper of cultural memory?
Physical Discs Still Drive Over a Third of Wolverine Sales Despite Sony's Phase-Out Plans
The most faithful of the faithful still buy physical
Mark
So Wolverine sold over two million copies in a month. Why does it matter that a third came on disc?
Mimi
Because Sony is killing the disc drive by 2028, and this data shows the disc audience is still real—especially outside the US. In France, two thirds of buyers chose physical.
Luke
But we should be careful here. Ampere Analysis is one firm's estimate. We don't know if those numbers include all retailers or just tracked ones. The regional breakdown is interesting, but it's still a snapshot from one month.
Mark
Fair point. So what does Layden mean by "the most faithful of the faithful"?
Mimi
He's saying the 20 percent who still buy physical aren't casual players—they're collectors, they buy multiple copies, they're invested in ownership. They're not going anywhere.
Luke
That's his argument, but we don't have data showing that's actually true. He's making a claim about who buys physical, not proving it.
Mark
And GTA 6 has no disc at all?
Mimi
Correct. Not even an option. The special edition is just an empty box with a code inside.
Luke
Which tells us what Rockstar and Take-Two think the market wants. But it doesn't tell us whether they're right, or whether they're leaving money on the table in markets like France where physical still moves units.
Mark
So the real question is: will those disc buyers just adapt, or will they stop buying?
Mimi
That's the question nobody can answer yet. Sony says it won't budge. Publishers are going digital-only. But the Wolverine numbers suggest there's still a constituency that prefers physical.
Luke
And the preservation angle—that's the part with no solution. If games go digital-only and storefronts close, what happens to the archive? That's a real problem nobody's solved.
Le Pouls
- Marvel's Wolverine sold 2.16 million units in September, with physical disc accounting for 35% globally — and over 51% in Europe — exposing a fault line between corporate strategy and actual consumer behavior.
- Sony's 2028 deadline to end PS5 disc manufacturing has ignited backlash from preservation groups and former PlayStation chief Shawn Layden, who argues the loyal physical-media audience is not a rounding error but 'the most faithful of the faithful.'
- The Video Game History Foundation warns that without physical media or guaranteed digital archiving, entire libraries of games risk becoming legally and practically inaccessible to researchers, museums, and future generations.
- Grand Theft Auto 6 ships with no disc at all — its collector's edition box holds only a download code — signaling that major publishers are already treating the physical era as over, even as the data says otherwise.
- The industry is landing in an unresolved tension: digital-only is becoming the standard, yet a geographically and culturally significant audience still prefers to own a box, and no clear plan exists to serve or preserve them.
As the games industry accelerates toward an all-digital future, Marvel's Wolverine sold 35% of its 2.16 million September units on physical disc — rising to over half in Europe and two-thirds in France — quietly reminding us that the way people choose to own things is rarely uniform, and rarely finished. Sony's plan to end PS5 disc production by 2028 has drawn sharp criticism from preservation advocates and former PlayStation leadership alike, raising questions that go beyond convenience: when physical media disappears and digital storefronts close, who becomes the keeper of cultural memory?
Marvel's Wolverine launched on September 15th and moved 2.16 million units in its first month. What made the numbers interesting wasn't the total — it was the split. Thirty-five percent of sales came on physical disc. In Europe, boxed copies outsold digital. In France, physical topped two-thirds of all purchases. The data, drawn from Ampere Analysis, arrived at an uncomfortable moment: Sony has announced it will stop manufacturing PlayStation 5 discs entirely by 2028.
The backlash was swift. The Video Game History Foundation raised the alarm over what happens to games when physical media vanishes and digital storefronts eventually close — a question with no clean answer. Shawn Layden, who once led PlayStation, publicly questioned the logic of the move, arguing that the 20% of players who still buy physical are not a fringe group. They are, he said, the most devoted buyers — people who sometimes purchase two copies of a game, one to play and one to keep sealed.
Sony acknowledged the community's strong feelings in July but held its position. And the broader industry appears to be moving in the same direction. Grand Theft Auto 6, the year's most anticipated release, has no disc version at all — its special edition ships as a box containing only a download code.
The Wolverine figures complicate the tidy story of an industry that has already moved on. Physical demand is real, regionally uneven, and not trivially small. As disc production winds down and publishers follow Sony's lead, a meaningful segment of players will find fewer ways to buy games as they always have — and whether preservation institutions can legally maintain access to what remains is, for now, an open question.
Marvel's Wolverine arrived on September 15th and sold 2.16 million units in its first month. One third of those sales—35 percent—came on physical disc. The number might seem modest until you look closer: in Europe, the boxed version accounted for more than half of all purchases. In France alone, physical sales topped two thirds. These figures come from Ampere Analysis, which tracks retail data across major global markets, and they arrive at a peculiar moment in gaming history.
Sony has announced it will stop manufacturing PlayStation 5 discs by 2028. The company's decision triggered immediate backlash. Preservation advocates, including the Video Game History Foundation, called for meaningful solutions to archive digital-only games and make them accessible to researchers and museums. The foundation's concern is straightforward: if platform owners eliminate physical media and shut down digital storefronts, who preserves what people played? The question has no clear answer.
Shawn Layden, who led PlayStation before stepping down, recently questioned whether Sony's move makes sense. He suggested that while perhaps 80 percent of players download games, the remaining 20 percent matters enormously—they are, he said, "the most faithful of the faithful," the ones who often buy two copies of a game, keeping one sealed. That 20 percent, in other words, is not marginal. It is a core constituency. Yet Sony has shown no sign of reconsidering. In July, the company acknowledged "strong views" from the gaming community but insisted it would not change course.
The Wolverine data complicates Sony's narrative about where the industry is headed. The game ranked as the second best-selling title on PlayStation 5 last month, trailing only EA Sports FC 27, which moved close to 5 million copies on the console and 1.65 million on Xbox. But Wolverine's physical performance—especially the regional variation—suggests that disc demand remains real and geographically uneven. Some markets still prefer to own a box.
Meanwhile, the year's biggest release offers a different picture. Grand Theft Auto 6 has no physical version at all. Even its special edition ships as an empty box containing only a code. No disc exists. That absence signals where major publishers are betting the future lies. Yet the Wolverine numbers suggest the transition will not be seamless everywhere. As Sony phases out disc production and publishers follow suit, a segment of players—perhaps small by percentage but significant in absolute terms—will find fewer options to buy games the way they have always bought them. What happens to that audience, and whether preservation institutions can legally maintain access to digital-only titles, remains unresolved.
Citations marquantes
That is largely the most faithful of the faithful, that is, many times, the people who buy two copies of every game, one never gets out of the shrink wrap.— Shawn Layden, former PlayStation boss
We'd like to see trade groups like the Entertainment Software Association offer meaningful solutions for archives and museums to legally preserve digital-only content.— Video Game History Foundation
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